Here are five key steps to make a simple en-suite bathroom practical and beautiful, with a love of natural materials and inspiration drawn from the earth.
An en-suite bathroom, integrated with the main bedroom, is an oasis and sanctuary for the adults in the home. It is a place to balance motivation at the beginning and end of the day, cleanse and rest, and apply make-up and get ready. Every en-suite should therefore work in harmony with the main bedroom and have a special decorative character distinct from the home's other bathrooms: more space, a more luxurious shower or bath area, a dressing table, a chandelier, or anything that makes it feel special.
A nature-focused en-suite reflects the character of a naturally styled home. If your décor includes solid raw-wood furniture, accessories in earthy materials such as ceramic, glass and clay, airy linen bedspreads and curtains, fresh flowers and plenty of plants, you can follow the same natural direction in your en-suite.
If you are considering a more extensive change, choose wall and surface coverings that satisfy both a desire for luxury and a need for natural character. Marble is a beautiful material that meets both expectations, but ceramic tiles that faithfully reflect its texture, natural character and beauty are increasingly preferred today.
More durable, more varied and more economical than marble, large tiles of this kind are much easier to install and to repair or replace if damaged. You can take the same approach with wood. Ceramic and porcelain tiles with a wood aesthetic are now chosen not only for wet areas but for every indoor and outdoor part of the home. In other words, parquet and marble are out; parquet-look and marble-look ceramics are in.
For marble-look porcelain tiles, the Royal Marbles series from the Kalebodur family is an ideal choice. Çanakkale Seramik's marble-look Motion series, with its modern design approach, brings aesthetic and functional solutions to interiors with a satin finish and rectified edges. If you want a more durable solution that reflects all the beauty of wood, Çanakkale Seramik's collections enriched with natural wood textures, including Nordic, Wood, Chakra, Country, Woodream, Listoni and Legni, offer limitless options.
If you want a more practical approach without replacing surface coverings, refresh the room by changing other textures for natural ones. Use linen hand towels and peshtemals instead of conventional towels, bamboo or jute rugs instead of bath mats, linen kimonos instead of bathrobes, rattan baskets instead of plastic boxes and woven plates instead of acrylic jewellery dishes. A wooden stool and woven lighting can easily complete the natural atmosphere you want.
Since an en-suite should feel special, you can personalise it and give it an emotional dimension: it is entirely your world! Artistic touches such as ornaments collected on past travels, a watercolour, small paintings, collages of maps and photographs or a handwritten message can transform both its appearance and its emotional atmosphere.
If you are particularly interested, include handmade ceramic plates or blown-glass bottles. To create a truly artistic focal point in your bathroom, we suggest covering a wall with a large glass mosaic work.
An en-suite bathroom is a personal, private space. There is therefore no need even for a shower enclosure, although some en-suites use a single glass panel simply to separate the shower area. The aim is to preserve transparency and the room's sense of spaciousness.
Plants add style to a bathroom while helping purify the air, improve air quality and ease stress and anxiety, making them the detail that most strongly evokes nature. The bathroom also offers an excellent humid environment for houseplants, with water always close at hand.
Before deciding which plants will suit your bathroom best, however, assess the available light and average temperature. Although a shower produces plenty of warm, humid air, the room becomes cooler and less humid when the shower is not in use, especially at night. These wide temperature fluctuations are not ideal for many plants. Not all plants enjoy high humidity, and some can develop mould.
Large-leaved tropical plants such as monstera, trailing greenery, succulents and cacti are among the favourites for a bathroom atmosphere. If you prefer small potted plants, fragrant herbs such as mint, basil and parsley are also ideal.
If you have shelves, trailing pothos, which cleans the air, can easily create the desired effect. Other options to take you into your own green paradise include aloe vera, a source of healing; bamboo, which needs only indirect light and humidity; ferns, spider plants, Boston fern and Zamia. For more substantial options, consider monstera, Chinese evergreen, Madagascar dragon tree and dieffenbachia, which can filter toxins from the air.
Have you noticed how professionally everything a guest might need is organised at a spa? That is true luxury. If you want to create a private spa and treat yourself, become your own VIP member and do not compromise on elegance. Choose an ivory-coloured tray for aromatherapy products and perfumes. Put cotton-wool balls, small soaps and aromatherapy balls in glass jars. Place woven baskets on shelves or the floor and fill them with fragrant linen towels and hand towels. Burn lightly scented candles of different heights or use essential oils to turn the atmosphere into a complete spa experience.
When bringing nature into the bathroom, remember that your task is not merely a visual display. Create an approach that embraces every sense, including smell and hearing. Let us move deeper into the forest and discover the natural affinity between scents and sounds.The list below features aromatherapy fragrance combinations from some of the world's most admired spas.
Blue cedar, lavender
Lemongrass, basil
White bamboo, lotus flower
Vetiver, lavender, ylang-ylang
Eucalyptus, rosemary
Green tea, lemon blossom and jasmine
Bergamot, grapefruit, lavender
Thyme, basil, mimosa
Grapefruit, mandarin, mint
All these scents, derived from plants, fruit, flowers and tree bark, have an effect on body and mind. For example, if you struggle with sleeplessness, three drops of lavender essential oil may help. If working in a windowless office has left you longing for oxygen, adding five drops of ravintsara, five drops of lemon and two drops of peppermint oil to your room diffuser can give you plenty of oxygen. If you experience difficulties with attention and perception, adding a few drops of peppermint oil and a few drops of a blend of grapefruit, orange, lemon and eucalyptus oils to your oil burner will energise your mind. If you need to relax your muscles and relieve joint pain, keep jasmine, bay and pine oils close at hand. Rose and violet essential oils offer a remedy for headaches and exhaustion. Cedarwood oil relaxes you, bergamot brings happiness, and rosemary and cinnamon warm dry, cold bodies.
As for sounds, there are now countless solutions and technological wonders. Sounds focused entirely on nature, such as forests, waves and rain, or podcasts that help you concentrate, can create an unforgettable spa experience. You can also explore ethnic playlists, including instrumental world ambience, Celtic music and Celtic tracks featuring flutes and drums.
Current findings suggest that the brain can easily synchronise with music at around 60 beats per minute and enter a relaxed state, triggering the production of alpha brain waves. The positive physiological and psychological effects of spa music include slowing the pulse and heart rate, reducing stress-hormone production, lowering blood pressure, easing depression and improving self-esteem.
